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EVE Online

Officially its my 1001 Blog Post. But It’s a very long way to get to 1000 posts over somewhere between 7-8 years I think since started blogging for fun, along side playing the various games I’ve played. 4 of those last years have been blogging about EVE Online. It was very tough in the beginning, having no idea what I would ever write about. 1000 Blog Post surely never entered my mind and a huge milestone for any blogger to eventually reach.

This blog has been my companion alongside all the games I’ve played since its has existed way back before playing EVE. It has seem me progressively through WoW, STO, EVE. I’ve played GW2 but never played it much to blog about it. I’ve played TSW but I never gotten around to blogging about it either, but it was one of the better games I’ve enjoyed in recent times. Over time it got easier as one gets used to blogging. Blogging changes as your interest in the games you play changes as well. Time changes, life changes as well so do your interests in things and how you view the things you’ve always looked at. Regular readers notice it as well as your blog activity level drops off greatly.

For me I’ve found my blogging activity and game interest goes hand in hand blogging more when I have more interest in a game and less as my interest falls off. In time you find other things of interest and you move on. Such is life. And in moving on this blog will as well in the games I play, the name ever remaining the same though the look may change. Given my lack of any great blogging activity I should have reached 1000 blog posts many months ago. But I just couldn’t be bothered that much to write much about anything and I wasn’t playing EVE much as my only MMO game. But its a milestone, and I’ve gotten there by sheer persistent over the years when so many other bloggers have quit along the way. Cheers!

End of my EVE Era

I’ve recently reached 4 years of EVE, that’s a very long time to be playing just one game. Maybe not as long as you, but its a lot of years. In the time I’ve played EVE I’ve worked for 2 Companies and one Educational Institution. Life has passed by and lots of things have happened. Time… it goes by so quickly these days. Compared to my first 2-3 years of EVE in blogging activity I haven’t blogged that much in the last year. In the last 6 months or so I really haven’t blogged much. You probably noticed that If you’ve been here regularly as a reader.

My last real activity in EVE in all those months was doing a bit of research at my Large Research Tower. At some point I reached what was the end for me just doing research. It wasn’t everything but it was enough at the time. I didn’t play EVE much, I had less interest to log in and play any real part of the game. I blogged less about playing EVE as well. RL was a bit more busy, things in RL was also more of an interest. As a single guy in RL you just don’t plan to be single forever. So you just choose to spend more time in RL working on the that. That itself is reason enough to play EVE much less. Gaming takes a back seat as it’s just not that important than RL issues, Job scheduling and other things of interest.

So I just played EVE less and less. I mostly logged into EVE to do Skill Fu as well making monthly supply of Fuel Blocks to keep the Research Tower afloat. I just couldn’t decide what I was going to do next if anything at all with the tower. So I just kept the Tower fully fueled month after month with no research ongoing at the Tower. Yet in all that time I was thinking about whether to keep playing EVE or not. It also didn’t help that year after year I felt more bitter about playing EVE vs positive about it. The Bitterness Syndrome I guess. The EVE Community at times can feel toxic and even toxic waste gives off fumes that’s not good for one’s health.

About a month ago after months of thinking I reached some consensus sitting on top the fence. At that point I knew I was going thru the Captains Quarters Door and If I quit it was going to be permanent. EVE in my own mind is the kinds game when I really leave I didn’t want to return to. And so that set in motion the next thing to do. About a month ago I finally logged in and spend a Saturday afternoon I think it was taking down the Large Research Tower. It was the longest I’ve spent in EVE time wise in months. It took what seemed like forever to take down the Tower and I didn’t find it fun at all either. But I took the entire thing down and abandoned the system moon. It was just a matter of time before I was gone as well.

I then logged onto my EVE Account online and cancelled my Account. And if you wondered I gave no real reason as none of them really matched anyway. So if CCP is wondering why people quit they may not always give a good reason. For me I just didn’t find EVE all that fun anymore and looking into the future I just didn’t see me putting a great deal of time into the game. I was pass that point already. Barely played much, I barely logged in. Month after month for almost 4 years minus about 4 months I paid my bill to CCP on 2 accounts mostly happily all those years.

The EVE community can sometime feel toxic and its funny how players can be against each other based on their respected play styles as not belonging. You know its tough enough to get new players into EVE as it is. Yet sometimes It can feel like some of the more vocal forces want to push others out of the game because they choose to play the game a certain way. It’s a Sandbox, play however you want. Whats important is that your here in the universe. I helped pay the bills at CCP just like anyone else that pays hard cash monthly to CCP. Not everyone that plays EVE pays CCP in cash. But I did. I supported CCP paying monthly for my 4 years of EVE. If I’m feeling neglected in EVE its foolish to keep paying month after month till some distant future point.

And yes even though I was in a corp with management roles, I was also still mostly a solo player. I helped out my corp whenever I could, if I could as it was something I could do or knew how to do well. Often I helped out my long time friend since beginning EVE with his corp through the years. I might have been a mostly solo player playing how i choose to play EVE but I still interacted with others and the community greatly. My mind was made up much before Fanfest after taking down the Research Tower and canceling my account almost a month ago. Today my accounts officially runs out.

In knowing how CCP tends to cater to a certain section of EVE it leaves me not much confidence that others that play in High Sec or Solo will likely continue to be neglected. maybe it won’t be so, but that’s my perception as well reality. CCP had a tendency I’ve noticed over the years of seemingly dropping the ball often it seems. And despite what seem like a good Fanfest 2014 overall minus the DUST/Legion snafu, I’m not inclined to change my mind and stick around.

I’m sticking to moving one to whatever is next. And at this point, there is no next. So for now I can enjoy playing nothing and do more in RL. Even watching Youtube for a while on many days seem like lots of fun as well as binge watching some Netflix.

Last Act

One of my very last EVE activity today I almost forgot about was visiting my Research Agents and cash out all my Research Points. I haven’t visited them in a very long time. So I warp speed across 5 regions of space in my Buzzard as it was the only ship left on one character and contracted almost 2800 Datacores. Lucky enough on my second character I had my usual ship of choice and took the Crane for one last spin making a similar run through another couple of regions and collected a similar amount. I guess it be the last time I’ll ever see my Agents.

In ensuring that I don’t somehow sneak back into EVE through some tiny wormhole somewhere in my house, I decided to strip all of my characters on my 2 EVE accounts of all their assets. Assets that I’ve worked hard over the last 4 years to acquire and grow through all my Industrial and Market Activities growing up in EVE. And in stripping all my characters I decided it was much better to give it all away, than to be gone from EVE with all those assets remaining unused on my account.

I’ve never killed any of my characters in any games I’ve ever played. To me I feel some attachment to them in some way. But I figure short of entering the realm of Doomheim to ensure I don’t return to New Eden stripping all my characters of everything they have worked for was the best thing. Making them penniless with no assets whatsoever only retaining their skills. I see no reason at that point to ever return to any of my characters.

But I figured someone was going to ask me for my stuff. Don’t they always. And I figured I’d likely say the first person to ask gets it all. Didn’t quite like that idea in a meaningful way. So I’ve given away all my assets to 2 people. One was my longest and closest friend in EVE since starting EVE. My friend Paul who I met in my very first player Corp and have remained friends to this day. For 4 years in EVE we shared a chat window even though we were in different corp and seen him through several Corps over the years though mostly his own corp with a few members. And to the second person I gave the rest of my remaining assets I consider a blogging friend as well. That person has been the longest supporter of this blog and closest in relation in play style. I’m sure he’ll make good use of all those assets as well, however he chooses to some good use.

There comes a point in time and life when we all will realize and choose to move on from a game and do other things for our own reasons. You may never fully understand just why that is, and some of your own reasons may likely be as valid too as to why. In the end each reason they add up collectively to form a complete decision of things over the years. But in the end, we will all move on at some point and so will you too at some point eventually.

Whats behind the CQ door? I guess a wormhole back to reality with a cure for Bitterness Syndrome. No wonder that door won’t easily open.

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependency on initial conditions in which a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.

It’s a Universe of Butterfly Effects at work by every active players that inhabits the Universe. Even CCP made a game trailer about the Butterfly Effect on how it affects the dynamic of the Universe that’s suppose to be a Sandbox. If that is to be believed then you can also say every active EVE Online player actions or inactions in the Universe (and sometime outside of it) also have consequence in the Universe. As well consequence that affects the content of things in the Universe whether it me on a micro or macro scale. Even the players banned for defacing the recently new EVE Monument affects the threads they are connected to that bind the Universe.

What a lot of people or players like about EVE is that you can choose to play however you want. Increasingly and been so for a long time vocal players in the so call Sandbox have been voicing their concerns that many in the so call Sandbox are not playing the game the right way because it doesn’t conform to their way of playing the game or how they want some others to play often as easy prey. As well CCP choosing to cherry pick how they develop content for some sections of EVE. Yet the Universe of EVE is supposed to be a so call Sandbox where you can play however you want. So how can others be then playing the game wrong?

But however you choose to play in the Sandbox every active player action has eventual consequence whether its seen or unseen in the fabric of space in EVE. What the public outside of EVE Online often see or hear about in the media is that content consequence exposed in huge battles when it gets out to the media. Because anything can happen in a Sandbox if the consequences are big enough for others to see or marvel at as game content created in the Sandbox. Every player that inhabit the universe playing the game may not affect the game content on that huge macro level often on smaller micro level.

If huge Alliance Coalition on each other conflict create Gravitational Waves in EVE Online then I guess others that affect the content and economy of all the regions of EVE in all the various ways interacting in the Sandbox whether it be solo or small-scale create maybe Subspace Waves. Waves that at some point affects and create gravitational movements in the Sandbox potentially as well. But small actions in the Sandbox don’t make Media news for CCP in a cold universe that have a hard time attracting and new retaining players. Thats a very huge problem for CCP.

Yet its the seemingly general perception that CCP don’t really care about a good deal of the player base that helps bind the fabric of the universe. Players that affects the universe on a micro level which in the end affects the game content and player interaction in the Sandbox. A good part of EVE Online player base feels neglected and people don’t stay neglected forever, they eventually move on. Those neglected players affect the game itself, affecting community inside and outside of it, the EVE Economy at large that glues the universe at core.

Affecting My Universe

I wondered in the beginning if I’d ever be accepted into this hostile community of PVP on PVE players as a small lonely voice at some far off corner of it as a MMO Player who mostly played WoW before EVE. But I also played other MMO’s as well. In the end we are all EVE Online players no matter how you choose to play the game. EVE is better because we are all here and suffers greatly when any of us leave for whatever the reason may be because it’s so hard to get one dedicated player here in the first place. Thus every player should be valuable to CCP. Over time I found my own way in EVE as a player, not necessarily creating some huge amount of in-game content as some mega popular players in EVE but often affecting the content of EVE slowly more and more over time as I grew within it. I exist as a player, so my actions have consequences whether seem or unseen it affects someone else or many others.

I grew and became and Industrialist, Market Trader, Researcher, T2 Inventor, T3 Reverse Engineer. I’ve meddled in Exploration, Missions and Mining. But every bit of my actions whether small or large or even my inaction I’m sure has consequences. And at this point for the last year by barely playing EVE itself that inaction has affected content in the game on micro levels that ripple across regions far away from Jita. I’m a Market Trader, but my time is mostly not spent in any of the main market trade hubs. Most people seem to think that everyone that market trades in EVE spend their time in Jita or the other 3 market hubs. I’ve barely!

The various regional economies are their own and players supply those markets as well. As most of my time have been spent as a Regional Trader, because I personally like to get around to the various regions I visited. By being absent from the Regional Markets, other players have the ability and more incentive to exploit market item supply as well as pricing, sometime to great extortion levels left unchecked and unaware of by others.

In the beginning I traded small things and sold small things on the market affecting my local systems. Over time as wealth grew, I affected entire regions of EVE in various items far from the spotlight of Jita. It wasn’t unimaginable on some days to travel across and through 90-100+ systems covering 6-7 Regions of EVE conducting Market Trade, checking on things at stations and most of the time cloaked in the shadows of space in-between 2 systems. I’ve helped create mini market hubs where there wasn’t any in a region by simply conducting lots of trade there, then others moved in as well.

By Manufacturing all sort of goods, logistically getting them moved across various regions of High Sec space to various systems, I’ve helped others create ISK doing logistics as well exposed them to danger and risk. By putting up market orders totaling in the Billions of ISK as well as selling goods, some hard to find assets in the many Billions of ISK on the market I’ve affected content as well as created it. I’ve saved others time and risk to danger by being able to get them their items far from the spotlight glare of a big market hub or popular Stargate and Region to travel to and acquire. Just one Butterfly in the universe affecting things or people in it.

By supplying a vast amount of T1 & T2 Ammo of all kinds to numerous regions I’ve affected other players ability to run missions, incursion players restocking ammo. As well as PVP players purchasing ammo to kill some other players ship in whatever space. Yes I’ve been guilty of being a lord of war with blood on my hands supplying whichever side hands over the cash. Through my actions some amount of players have died or lost their ships in EVE because I existed in the Universe and supplied them with the goods they needed to finish the job, whatever that job was. I can’t prove that, because I have no way of knowing but I’m sure it has happened. But I’m just one player in the Sandbox of EVE, they are many more like me out there and similar wise. Again we’re not huge content creators like Null Sec Alliances but we do affect the content and often the content of the economy.

I’ve never exactly been a Market Manipulator, but when you’ve acquired vast amount of Asset Resources and Cash you have the ability to create lots of goods to supply various markets or help be enough of a competition to lower the cost and make life hell for another player as well supply the needy with what they need to purchase. Ever played station/regional PVP war with a player at station X that’s content too. I’m affecting content or anyone else like me is. It’s not media news, but we’re greasing the underlying economy of EVE Universe that we exist within.

I’ve single helped to keep Asteroid Miners employed in some systems by being willing to buy up all their minerals or to resell them elsewhere supplying them with ISK earned through Trading. That may have helped someone else buy their monthly PLEX from someone else who sells and Trade lots of PLEX and so forth. I’ve bought out and bought up some regions entire supply of Ice Minerals off the entire market at huge ISK cost when justified, as well as keeping some Ice Miners employed by having someone around to buy up what they have worked hard to mine. Sometime doing logistics as well as reselling much of those resource where it’s needed and most profitable.

Myself or anyone like me is creating and affecting content, or eluding content passing through Stargates with lots of valuables and such or in the shadows of space. I’ve crashed regional markets on some very highly profitable items and was quite proud of it to hurt many someone else in the wallet where it hurts… sometimes its a game within a game. That’s all content the little guy engages in. It’s not media news worthily of attracting new players to EVE, but as every action has consequences its affecting game content.

By simply choosing to not play EVE as well any formerly actively player is affecting content as that does bare consequences as well and who knows how far-reaching that can be.

I just gonna say I don’t really believe CCP understands all the players who play their game or necessarily why they play the way they do. If EVE is a true Sandbox then who is ANYONE to tell ANYONE else in the Sandbox how they should play in it. As well CCP to only cater their development in a so call Sandbox to just one section of the game and neglect other players and play styles in that same Sandbox because some players are not playing the way they want. Then is it really a Sandbox is you can’t choose to play the way you or anyone else want to?I’ve played the way I wanted to because that’s how I wanted to play it.

You already pretty much know I’m mostly a Solo player if you’ve been reading here long enough to know my usual activities as an Industrialist, Market Trader, Researcher, Inventor. Sometime I choose to spend some time in Exploration, Salvaging, Mining to just relax and think, or Missioning a bit for some rusty pew pew checking out the ship engine oil on a few runs.

Occasionally I do small group activities that encompass anyone of those activities helping out a valued friend in EVE (I know Friends are rare) or in my Corp in small ways but very helpful and vital all the same. Yet I’m a vital member of my Corp even though I’m not a very visible or vocal member of my Corp to the general Corp membership. I’m very much understood I think by my Corp Senior Management of which I’m one of very few members somewhere in a Middle Management Role by virtue of my Solo playing skills. I’m also like that fly on the wall who’s always there and sometimes around to help and even help that new EVE Corp member recruit when no one else is around to help.

Corp Middle Management: Market and Trade Division/Industry

My Corp owns and manage our Alliance of over a dozen corps with all various mix of play styles. My role I’ve had for years as a vital member of my Corp. I manage my Corp Market and Trade Division. That Corp Division covers whatever in my activities as a Market Trader/Logistics/Researcher/Industrialist/Invention activities that I see fit to use to increase Corp Investment Assets in my charge. I’m mostly a division of 2, me and my other self managing one subset of my Corporation Wallet. And through us both I’ve helped to make my Corp $Billions$ of ISK on my own time that gets allocated to paying for other corp activities. Asset eventually allocated wether it be SRP for Corp/Alliance low sec roams, WH activities, New Player ship programs and other bills like Alliance monthly fees as well as Station Offices to name a few things that all that ISK have went to.

Most regular members in my Corp never even knew or barely aware I was in a separate division in my own Corp assigned by my Corp CEO… at my request to effectively perform my role. Yet I’m still a Solo player, but in a Corp. As most of my usual activities are very solo in nature.

That is the vital function I served in my Corp partly due to being good at the solo activities I’ve been good at. It was a role I asked of my CEO long ago because it was one the chief way I helped contribute to my Corp as a member since I didn’t directly spend time pew pewing like some others often did in the Corp wether it be on WH activities or Low sec gang roaming with the rest of Corp Alliance. As an Industrialist/Researcher/Inventor I’m one of the few and prominent member of my Corp that engage in such activities even though most of my activities fly far below the radar as a solo player inside my Corp.

When I saw the Corp couldn’t properly address my needs as a Researcher to get an increased amount of Research done in an effective manner I simple created my own Corp and eventually deployed my own Research Tower totally financed on my own. I’m playing Solo, yet in the long run it all served the Corp as some those BPOs researched was borrowed by the Corp to make Ships for the Corp and PVP needs. I was always there to help usually if someone in Corp needed help and I’m available to do so or lend a BPO to make some PVP Ships/Assets or something that serves both the Corp and Alliance overall.

I don’t really need my Corp to do anything I already currently do in EVE from day-to-day, but it just makes it easier being there, helping out as well know the benefit of also knowing other members. On most days unless I look at the Corp chat window I barely even remember I’m actually in a Corp, because my activities are that Solo for me in how I choose to do them. I spend more time looking at EVE Trader talk window and one with a long time friend. Occasionally I pay attention to corp chat. But my Corp is much better off because I’m there. It cost my Corp nothing. I’m a very trusted member of my Corp as I’ve earned it. I’ve made more ISK for my Corp than all the tax activities that the corp has ever generated in its wallet from members. I’m sure because I’ve seen just what gets generated ISK wise for taxable activities from members. And I know how much ISK in $Billions$ I’ve made for my Corp separate from my own usual activities. So by virtue of efforts I’ve done better contributing to the greater effort of the Corp as a contributing member in how I play EVE which in term affect what the Corp/Alliance can do on a greater scale. Yet… I’m just a Solo player.

Players like me are not an anomaly in EVE, we are many and not necessarily the most vocal. Some of us all do things differently, as well we quietly do our duty often being Corp members that help strengthen the backbone of our Corps. Yet we are still very much Solo players. And I think CCP as well many the players base that like to just pew pew only forget that these are some of the players in your own Corp that though members and not often the most vocal are also sometimes Solo players overall as well. I think CCP fails to realize just how those players glue things up in the greater Sandbox of things often neglecting them as well by only catering to the most vocal of a subset of the entire player base.

Yes I might play EVE mostly Solo in how I look at it, you may think of it differently. And Yes I’m also part of the EVE Community with this blog of which I’ve been apart of for the last 4 years.

I might be one of the 10-20% that choose to remain and play EVE for longer than 1-2 months as a solo player and become part of the universe. I’ve help create and affect content in my solo play in how I’ve played EVE. It may not be PVP but I’m a paying customer all the same.

In 4 years of EVE I’ve maybe not subscribed for maybe at most 4 months max or so maybe. Yet in all those months on 2 accounts I’ve mostly happily paid my subscription to CCP via my VISA Card charged monthly. In the last year alone I’ve barely paid EVE all that much drastically scaling back my EVE time, yet I’ve remained a paying customer VISA charged monthly on my only 2 accounts I’ve ever had. Only once in my entire lifetime as a player have I ever bought 1 single PLEX to know how it worked.

You can’t tell me many players who may play the game solo or mostly solo, as well pay CCP monthly month after month are not valued customer to CCP in helping to pay the bills with hard cash. Its more like neglected customers because of their playstyle.

CCP should be doing more, as well a better job or retaining many the new players that at least choose to take a look at the game. As well as ALL players playing the game vs just catering to a subset of EVE players.

I for one can’t help keep paying CCP’s bills and failings when I know players like me are being neglected and taken for granted.

I haven’t been at my office desk or space desk that much lately or for a while. At least not that often to realize as of 05/06 that both my EVE Characters are now officially 4 years old. I’ve surely never expected to be here this long or be apart of EVE or this community. EVE for me started out of pure curiosity and never expected I’d ever be here this long.

Ametius: 77.5 Million Skill Points.

I have not the time to dedicate to a long post, nor do I have the desire to write one as of years past. This will just remain as a footnote in time, for this blog and my gaming activities. Documentation of my time existing somewhere in New Eden.

Alothos: 70.1 Million Skill Points.

It’s just such a coincidence that I’ve reached this particular milestone at this very time….